A Toast to Kevin Williamson
Do you remember back to 1998 when Dawson's Creek first started out? It was revolutionary. There was no Alan Thicke theme song, no adults who only served to teach morals and lessons and no bad sitcom laugh track. There were just teens who were more or less like real people, aside from their infamous vocabularies. (Must we continually fall into these pedestrian circles?)

In the years since Jen first stepped out of the yellow cab, that groundbreaking formula has been done and redone and finely honed by the WB and, more recently, FOX. Yes, it's predictable and cheesy, but it's also reliable. I like that. With the Creek, I was always relieved to come home on a Wednesday night, with the weekend barely in sight, grab a big bowl of ice cream, put my feet up and tune into the mindless teen drama that was the Dawson-Joey-Pacey love triangle. And for my money, it was way more entertaining than the whiney crap you get on reality TV. So it was with high hopes that I tuned into the much-hyped premiere of The OC, and I wasn't disappointed one bit.

First, there's the theme song, "California." I love Phantom Planet (you know the drummer, er, well I guess he's now the ex-drummer, Jason Schwartzman, from Rushmore and singer Alex Greenwald from GAP ads). And I love this song. As I am leaving my adopted East Coast home after eight years to return to the wild West in September, every time the song gets to the "Califorrrrrniaaaa... Here we coooooommmme" part, I get shivers up my spine, imagining what's sure to be my triumphant return.

Entertainment=music*chemistry²
Next, the plot. It's as formulaic as they come: attractive but misunderstood teen is forced into an environment where, even with all his or her great qualities and strengths, he or she still feels like an outsider. Think alien Max on Roswell, alien Clark on Smallville, screw-up Pacey in the aforementioned preppy Capeside, slayer Buffy surrounded by regular Sunnydale high schoolers or city kid Ephram in small town Everwood.

Here we have poor boy Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) with his jailbird brother and alcoholic mother being taken in by heart of gold lawyer Sandy (Peter Gallagher) to live in the posh, snobby and plastic Orange Country. They have some great views there.

Add to this a love interest. There's instant chemistry between the two, but there's always something keeping them apart. For Clark and Lana, and Max and Liz, it was the alien thing, secret super powers, and jock boyfriends who were already staking out their territory. For Buffy and Angel, the vampire slayer loved a vampire who was cursed by angry Gypsies so that he couldn't love her back without losing his soul. I hate when that happens. For Joey and Pacey it was her guilt and confusion over the belief that she was meant to be with soul mate Dawson. For our Ryan and the girl next door, Marissa, it's money and power and status, and her big jackass boyfriend in his tacky mega-SUV.

Keep throwing in top 40 hits, use lots of expensive-looking film that delivers the kind of rich, warm tones you see in your happy childhood memories, dress everyone in Abercrombie, AEO, J. Crew and the GAP, and finally, and this is important, come up with a few quirky side characters.

A Mini Toast to Adam Brodie
The side characters are key. Buffy had her Scoobies, Dawson had Jen and Jack, Clark has investigative team Chloe and Pete, and the Gilmore Girls have a whole town full of weirdoes, including Sally Struthers.

The OC does very well in this category. There are the requisite druggies and surfer dudes and bikini girls (without machine guns), but there's also Sandy's son, and Ryan's surrogate brother, Seth (Adam Brodie). You might remember him as Lane's guitar-playing crush from last season's Gilmore Girls, or from a stint on Smallville, and soon you'll be able to see him in the skateboarder flick, Grind. Seth is rich and cute and sensitive and a total misfit. He's shy and awkward and almost jumps at his own shadow. Ryan throws some adventure in his life, and instead of feeling rivalry, there's an instant brotherhood between them. Their relationship is going to be much more fun to watch than the love thang brewing between Ryan and Marissa.

McKenzie played it strong and silent in the pilot, not showing too much of who he is yet. He's a little James Dean, a little Ed Norton and maybe a smidgen Haley Joel Osment. I think Ryan and The OC will fill the gap that the dry Creekbed left in my life, but if not, there's always the WB's latest Chad Michael Murray vehicle, One Tree Hill. You just can't keep a good teen idol down.